Then he laid a big pack on the floor saying， ‘come sit down， brother，sit on my big pack. We can sit back to back and even take a nap.’ Atfirst， I refused. But seeing his sincere look， I agreed. We sat back toback all the way. At that moment， I heard a Chinese say something tohim， complaining that I should have taken a plane， but instead wasmaking trouble and squeezing into a train with them. The farmer-lookingman retorted angrily， something like he must have his reasons fortaking the train. Not every foreigner was a money bag or a rich person.
We should take care of him. Hearing that， I was deeply moved. “Is there anything that you are unaccustomed to in China? Haveyou ever run into anything that has made you unhappy? “One thing made me very angry. That was in 1998 when I wasstill working in Shandong Changwei Normal School. In the summer ofthat year South China was heavily flooded. Everyone in my school donatedsomething to express their concern and condolence for the peoplein the flooded regions. I was no exception. I took 200 yuan frommy monthly savings and donated it. But for some reason they wrotemy name on an honor roll and posted it on a wall. Moreover， they putmy name at the very beginning. Seeing this I was very angry， so I wentto see them. But they told me that the amount of money I donated wasthe largest， so I should be praised and others should be encouraged tolearn from me. I explained to them that I donated money to show mylove， not to win praise. I didn’t want others to know about me， as itwas a simple thing that anyone should have done. Doing good deeds18 doesn’t need to be repaid. His words touched my heart deeply. I have met some foreignersand most of them don’t like to receive praise when they do somethinggood. To them， it’s natural to do good things. It’s the basic wayof being an upright person， and doesn’t need to be mentioned at all. InChina， on the other hand， people see things differently. We like to givepraise as an encouragement， and a way to teach others， so that goodbehavior is spread from a point to an area. Looking at Michael in frontof me， I suddenly felt he had a bit of Lei Feng’s spirit of doing namelessgood deeds.
The Secret of Success in Learning ChineseMichael speaks Chinese fluently， in a soft voice. If you couldn’
t see him， you might mistake him for a broadcaster somewhere inChina.
“Your Chinese is excellent. Where did you learn it? “Before coming to China， I learned a little bit of Spanish andFrench in college， but spoke them both poorly. After I came here， Istarted learning Chinese by myself. At the very beginning， Robbie，who came with me， spoke Chinese better than I did. So wherever hewent and whatever he did， I followed him like a shadow. Later， I madeup my mind to study Chinese hard. Soon， my Chinese surpassed his，which made him very upset. “He must be jealous of you. Do you have any good methods orknacks for learning Chinese? “My student introduced some books to me， and taught me. “I know your wife is Chinese. She wouldn’t happen to be thatstudent， would she? “No way， it wasn’t her， but she is the reason why I studied sohard. Michael laughed， and his face lit up with happiness. “WowDalong， you even had a teacher-student love story！ Please confesshow you tricked her into falling in love with you.” I questioned him quickly. He didn’t mind at all， but told me everything in detail.
“Her name is Wang Xiaohui. I had noticed her soon after my arrival，but she didn’t have much of a reaction to me. She is a pure girl，clever and pretty. She never expected that she would make friends withme and love me. I didn’t express myself to her and kept only a teacher andstudent relationship. We didn’t break this kind of relationship until a fewdays before I went back home to the States. I told her that I liked herand she said that she liked me too. I was afraid I would never see heragain once I left here. If I didn’t say it at that moment， I would neverhave another chance， and might regret it all my life. “Did she agree?” I asked.
“She was surprised， but she agreed. Michael was obviously immersed in happy memories， and theclock seemed to have turned back to the year 2001.
Michael went back to the States carrying with him the love hehad found in China. He was not lonely then because his heart was fullyoccupied by her， Xiaohui. He was full of anticipation and confidence.
After he went back， he took a MBA course in Arizona State Universi2ty. Two years later， he graduated and found an ideal job in a pretty bigcompany. Everything seems to be going smoothly， so why did Michaelreturn to China?
“The second time I came to China was for her. I missed her andlonged to live with her. “Then why didn’t you ask her to study in the States? “She was studying， too. She studied very hard and not long afterI left she successfully passed the entrance exam for graduate school atPeking University. So I decided to make a sacrifice and come to Chinafor her sake. “Your coming to China meant you gave up the good job and highsalary you already had. Were you willing to give it up? Didn’t you feelany regret? “If one doesn’t have love， why should one work?” Michael repliedfirmly. Just these few words revealed how deeply he loves her.
I really admire his courage and perseverance toward love. “After arrivingin China， I went to work at the Wall Street English School andshe studied at Beijing University. We lived very close and took care ofeach other in life. The Most Romantic Thing“You must have had a very romantic and happy life while youwere living in Beijing， didn’t you? “Absolutely. Well， I’ll tell you a very interesting story.
